Waseca prison's COVID-19 outbreak raises safety concerns
By Brian Arola, Mankato Free Press
Union leaders at Waseca’s prison say an ongoing COVID-19 outbreak among workers and staff is the result of unsafe movement of COVID-positive prisoners into the facility.
The 605-inmate federal correctional institution had 86 active COVID cases among inmates and two among staff as of Friday, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. An additional 47 inmates and five staff recovered from the illness as of Wednesday.
Cases were minimal to nonexistent in the prison until transfers into the facility resumed within the last two months, said Local 801 President Ryan Burk.
Of the first 22 or so new inmates to arrive, all or nearly all tested positive for COVID, according to Burk. Despite quarantine and isolation protocols, cases reportedly spiked from there.
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Local prison leadership and the bureau’s isolation and quarantine protocols aren’t the problems, Burk said. All inmates at bureau facilities are tested going in and out of a 14-day pre-release quarantine before their scheduled departures.
The issue is the bureau is taking in prisoners from non-bureau agencies like the U.S. Marshal Service, county jails and other detention centers. Those places don’t have the same safety protocols in place when they transfer inmates, Burk said.
“My warden and associate wardens are dealing with it the best they can,” he said. “But they don’t have the power to lock up the front door and say no more new inmates.”
It feels like their hands are tied, he added. So he and the union’s chief warden, Ambjor Anderson-Johnson, are calling attention to the problem in the hopes higher-ups listen.
“We don’t have much of a say in stopping this movement,” Anderson-Johnson said. “We’re trying to get enough people to talk about this.”
The outbreak has some staff feeling fearful about bringing the virus home or out in the community with them, Burk said. Even with protective equipment supplies being good, lack of airflow controls like those seen in health centers can lead to a contagious virus spreading quickly in prison settings.
“Staff are kind of scared,” Burk said. “But we do what we can do because this is something we signed up for.”
The prison’s outbreak also has ramifications outside its walls. Climbing case counts in Waseca County recently prompted Waseca Junior and Senior High School to switch to a distance-learning model.
“Many people were upset about the school changing situation caused by the prison situation, but I hope they understand we didn’t cause this,” Anderson-Johnson said. “The bureau is moving these people in and it’s causing these problems for us and our community.”
A statement from the bureau said it’s carefully monitoring spread and following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance for its isolation and quarantine procedures.
“We are deeply concerned for the health and welfare of those inmates who are entrusted to our care, and for our staff, their families, and the communities we live and work in,” the statement read. “It is our highest priority to continue to do everything we can to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in our facilities.”
On top of moving inmates in, Anderson-Johnson also expressed concerns about the bureau’s push to allow social visits again in early October.
“It’s not like we don’t agree that visiting is very important, but we have a lot going on right now and we’re concerned it’s going to cause more issues,” she said.
The bureau is reviewing the facility’s status, including where it’s at with PPE supplies, as it considers when social visits will resume, according to the statement.
Burk said he’s not hopeful all transfers into the facility will cease at this point. Instead, he’s calling for an end to COVID patients being transferred in, or at least establishing a safer process for doing so.
“A lot of staff are on edge; some are nervous and terrified of bringing this home,” he said.